I took one of my pugs, Sprite, in for her rabies shot yesterday. Her sister Sprout has reacted twice to the rabies shot with facial swelling, airway closing, etc. Sprite has never reacted to the vaccine but I was a bit nervous about Sprite receiving her shot given her sister’s history. My vet had me wait until we were well past her spay surgery (it’s been two months now) just to be sure she was totally healthy. I opted to leave her at the vet today for observation as I had too many things going on to watch her properly. I went to pick her up about 4:30 p.m. and they assured me she had done just fine. Penny, one of the employees at my vet, came out with Sprite and said she had just vomited. I said “oh oh, that’s what Sprout’s reaction started with” so they had us wait for one of the vets to look at her again. Within a short time she began itching and by the time the vet came into the exam room she was itching a lot more. Her face was still okay but as he said, why wait until her face swells to intervene as it was obvious she was going to get worse. So she got a steroid shot and a benedryl shot. Within about 15 min. she had stopped itching and we went home. Of course, like her sister, she will never get another rabies shot.

In case anyone else has this problem with their dogs, you are probably wondering how I will get them licensed in the future. My vets will write a letter that I will give to my township when I renew licenses once this rabies shot is considered expired in 3 years. If, in the very very unlikely situation, either pug would bite someone after that 3 year period, they would need to be quarantined at my expense for 10 days at my vet’s clinic. A small price to pay if it were to occur versus possibly killing them by vaccinating them again.

The good news is there is a new study being conducted at the University of Wisconsin on the length of time the rabies vaccine provides immunity in dogs. It is quite likely it works for 7 years or more. The Rabies Challenge info can be found here. Donations are needed to help fund this study.